Kayaking the Great Glen Canoe Trail - Day 1

Day 1 of our fantastic trip in Scotland to paddle the Great Glen Canoe Trail.
Here we paddle the beautifully calm waters of Loch Lochy, as well as the South Western end of the Caledonian Canal, from Corpach to Letter Finlay.
Links to other videos in this series...
Day 2: • Kayaking the Great Gle...
Day 3: • Kayaking the Great Gle...
Day 4: • Kayaking the Great Gle...
Music is:
"Master of the Feast" by Kevin MacLeod.
Master of the Feast by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. creativecommon...
Source: incompetech.com...
Artist: incompetech.com/
and
"Green Leaves" by Audionautix.
Green Leaves by Audionautix is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. creativecommon...
Artist: audionautix.com/

[@Fishaholicboy]

What a great trip.. those drone footage is great. Definitely good to show the landscape

[@travelswithpaddles]

Thank you for the nice comment. Hopefully as my drone skills improve, the footage will get better too!

[@nathanrockley3149]

great trip watchin this w the boys - how did you get back every day to ur cottage. the drone footage was generally pretty good.

[@travelswithpaddles]

Thank you for the kind words. We arranged each day with a car shuttle, so drop off some cars at the finish, take some to the start etc. So, at the end of the paddle, we just drove back to the cottage.

[@Robert-cc4hg]

I'm hoping to do this. From someone with experience kayaking what tip and recommendations would you give to someone will very limited experience. Thanks

[@travelswithpaddles]

Hi, thanks for the comment. Unfortunately you probably aren't going to like my answer! My biggest tip would be get some experience first. I would say at least a couple of years paddling and including experience of paddling on the sea too. The main problem is that the prevailing winds in this area are either South Westerly or North Easterly, which means they are basically running along the length of the Great Glen. Even a light wind can build up significant waves, particularly on Loch Ness. When I get round to editing day 4 of our trip, you'll see what I mean! But, in the mean time check out this video of a rower on Loch Ness in very light winds... kzbin.info/www/bejne/rYfNeXSBltWifqc . On a windy day, Loch Ness basically turns into a moderate to rough sea... kzbin.info/www/bejne/g6HYnZSIf7SsnLs . Having said that, if you are keen to try part of the Great Glen as early as possible, the first half of this video from Corpach to Gairlochy on the Canal section will be relatively safe, as it is too shallow and too narrow for significant waves to build. Other general safety tips would be: always wear a buoyancy aid, always paddle as part of a group, always take some form of waterproof communication device that you can call for help with (mobile phone in a waterproof sleeve is a good start). Sorry it's not the answer you were hoping for, but safety is the most important consideration when dealing with pretty much any watersport.